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I’m so excited to write this post today because I just want to show you guys how damn cute this collection is and was and why I’m so happy to have my hands on it!

I’ve wanted to take part in an ichiban kuji from Japan for the longest time, but I’ve always been so anxious to in case I paid loads for items and won the most basic of things. However, the Holiday Night collection from Pokemon was too damn cute to pass up and I have ZERO REGRETS!

I’ll not only be showing off items I bought/won but I’ll also be talking about what ichiban kujis are, how they work and even which ones YY Kawaii is selling at the moment, so if you fancy giving one a go yourself, you can!

I hope you enjoy this post today, I thought I would do something kawaii and cute, as I feel like I haven’t done that for ages. 🙂

I mean for a start, look how damn cute the promotional image is for the kuji!

First of all an ichiban kuji is a Japanese lottery that to the British can be related to a tombola you would get at a fête in the summertime. You win a prize every time but the prize depends on which letter you get on the ticket! All prizes have a letter assigned to them with A, B, C and D being the rarer and harder to get prizes and letters E, F and G being easier to obtain. Most kujis will also come with a “last one” prize, which you can win if you get the “last one” ticket. These are extremely rare!

I thought I would pop YY Kawaii’s video above as she explains in full what ichiban kujis are in more detail than I do and considering that’s who I purchased my kuji from, why not! 😀 Go and give her some love and make sure to mention me. ^_^

So when YY Kawaii advertised that she would be selling this kuji, I KNEW I had to take part! Tickets were priced at £11 each or 2 for £20.50. I loved everything the kuji had on offer so what did I have to lose?

I’ll link here what the kuji had on offer, as I don’t want to use the promotional photos if I can help it! When viewing the prizes though I had a few things in mind that I wanted to win, including the B prize which is a vanity case and prize D which is the travel set. I loved the other prizes too, but those stood out to me the most.

I bought two tickets and won two amazing prizes, BUT I also purchased one of the items that YY Kawaii had for sale.

I remember watching the live Instagram video of YY Kawaii revealing who had won what and I couldn’t believe it when I heard I had won the A prize, which is a Pikachu plushie, as well an illustrated towel!

I couldn’t believe it and was so excited when my goodies arrived in the post a few days later.

The Pikachu plushie is quite big to be honest and very sturdy, yet squish-able for cuddles. I’ve been cuddling this whilst sat at my gaming table as I write this post which is super comfortable. If it was acceptable I would totally take this to work to rest against whilst doing work.

This has been sitting on our bed as I honestly don’t know where else to keep it right now! I might just keep it for downstairs to cuddle against whenever I’m playing games or doing blog work. I especially love the pastel colours as it’s really relaxed and nothing too “obnoxious”, especially for the bedroom.

The second item I won was an illustrated towel, which is one of the more popular items you can win. I’m happy with winning this (even though I know many get disappointed with these sort of wins) as I love using the towels as face cloths/flannels. I wish I could have bagged the purple design, as it has a super cute sleeping Dragonite design on. If I can buy this design in the future, I will!

Then I mentioned I picked up one of the items from YY Kawaii, as I didn’t win it. This is the travel set. I KNEW I needed this in my life and I especially wanted it for my holiday to Japan, as well as for travelling anywhere to be fair.

It comes in a really cute box (which I don’t want to throw away!) and is a clear purple bag with images from the promotional photos on. You can see where the Pokemon are having a sleepover with the sat around on a rug reading books, sleeping, cuddling cushions and more. It also comes with three travel bottles with the 1st gen starter Pokemon on them. These are a very generous size too so my 2 weeks of supply of goods I would need to take with me would last for ages in these.

So that’s all the goodies I won and bought from the Pokemon Collection Holiday Night kuji through YY Kawaii!

Do I have any regrets with getting this kuji? If anything, I regret not buying more tickets. 😛 I also wish I could get the vanity case cheaper than it’s selling for right now, as this would be perfect to house stuff in for travelling, as well as in general. I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled for it in the future.

If you like the sound of ichiban kujis and want to have a go yourself, then please make sure to go and check out YY Kawaii’s Instagram pages YY Kawaii and YY Kawaii Merch to see what she has on offer and if you don’t see a kuji you’re interested in BUT are aware of, you can always drop her a message to enquire about it. Make sure to let her know I sent you! 😀

YY Kawaii also has some of the prizes for sale from this kuji, so make sure to go and check out her Instagram pages for those too! Again, make sure to let her know I sent you! 😀

Have you ever divulged into ichiban kujis from Japan? If so which one(s) have you taken part in? If you’ve never had a go yourself, do you think you’ll try your luck at a kuji? Make sure to let me know in the comments below!

OH P.S. I took all the photos in this post on my new camera! What do you guys think? I know they aren’t the best, but I’m still getting used to it. 😛

Until next time, take care all and I hope you’re having a lovely weekend. 🙂

I really need to save. It’s so hard at the moment considering I’ve just had to fork out £250 for a part of my car to be replaced and erm… I kinda bought myself a new camera ready for Japan. Honestly I’m going to save up for Japan. I am. I NEED to otherwise I’ll be going to Japan with no sodding money to spend, or eat with. I have 5 months to go until we leave for the holiday and saving needs to happen NOW.

In all honesty though? I already really want at least 2 items on this wish list for work, as well as in general.

I will resist the urge and be good… I need to. 😛

Enough of me wallowing in poor pity, on with the wish list for August.

If there is one thing I love buying (and it’s definitely a weakness of mine!) it’s pyjamas and it’s purely because I live in them mostly when I’m at home. Providing I don’t have plans, as soon as I get home from work I’ll get my pyjamas on and get comfortable. These will be perfect for during the summer months, as at the moment I am just purely living in baggy t-shirts and night shirts. EMP has a pretty awesome Aggretsuko line up at the moment, including a couple of hoodies, pyjama bottoms and even some fake Converse.

I LOVE Animal Crossing and I am still stoked about the new one coming out on the Switch in March 2020. I love playing Pocket Camp daily and would love to grab some sort of Animal Crossing merch for when I’m in Japan. I love the “Yo” design of K.K. Slider and although I’ve added it onto this post as a sticker, I would rather love the hoodie or sweater design as I can only imagine it would so comfortable to wear around the house, as well as out and about when running errands.

This is something I’ve had my eye on getting (and in one case winning) since I saw it was announced a couple of months back. I took part in this kuji through YY Kawaii (yykawaiimerch over on Instagram). I’ll be talking about the prizes I won soon, as well as this travelling pouch, which arrived yesterday. Yes, I bought it because I want it for my holiday to Japan, as well as travelling in general. This is a good sized pouch and comes with three generous sized bottles that you can fill with your beauty essentials. I’m already planning what product I’m going to pop in there for travelling with. As I said, I’ll be writing a post all about these goods soon, as well as a little bit of information about kujis, how they work and which amazing ones YY Kawaii has coming up soon!

I have discovered with my job that I love jotting down notes using pencil… I don’t know why, but I just have! I love Aggretsuko and since season 2 has come onto Netflix (also, they just announced season 3. Who else is excited?!) so I feel merchandise for this is becoming more and more likely everywhere. I don’t need any stationary anytime soon though to be honest. These would just be cool to have whenever I go into meetings and to perk my desk up a little. At the moment I’m using Pusheen pencils… I can’t complain. 😛

This isn’t going to be something I buy anytime soon due to the price, but it’s a lamp I will be keeping a close eye on, as I would love it to be a part of my home. I don’t quite know where it would go… Potentially by the sofa in our living room… It’s so damn cute and I love it! I can only assume Stanley is the dog but it’s so gorgeous and you can see a lot of precision went into the design, as it’s just perfect. This is something I’ll keep my eye on during the sales.

I love a good skater dress, especially one from Killstar. This is from one of their new collections, which represents Japanese school style fashions and manga/anime designs too. This is something I’d love to be able to wear for work but due to the style of the dress (mostly the back with the hanging part) I doubt that would be doable… At least not during the warmer months when I don’t need to wear a cardigan, jumper or my work fleece. I’ll be keeping my eyes on it though, this is something I’ll definitely be picking up in the future.

I know it’s summer and we in the UK are currently rocking the warm and muggy weather but I am already thinking ahead to the months when the colder weather will be back and I’ll be wanting to snuggle up into something during my shifts at work. My friend Amy (Writing into the Ether) rocks a gorgeous mustard cardigan and she’s inspired me get myself a mustard cardigan, after years of never bothering. I love my burgundy and mustard colours for autumn and winter, and whilst I own loads of mustard jumpers, I haven’t yet picked up a mustard cardigan. I’ve found this one from Boohoo, which I’m going to keep my eye on. I need to venture around more places first, including charity shops. I know what I’m looking for, super soft and baggy so I can be snuggled and cosy!

So those are the items on my wish list for August! I always worry my wish lists are boring, but you guys never seem to say anything other than the complete opposite!

What items do you guys have on your wish lists this month? Make sure to let me know! Hey, let me know which items you’ve picked up this month too!

Until next time, take care all and I hope you’re having a good week so far.

It’s August and only one more month now until my favourite of the year, September. I’m shocked at how quickly 2019 is going by, as well as the fact I have now been in my new (well not so much new anymore!) job for 4 months now. It’s flown, I still feel like I’ve only been here for five minutes.

Either way, summer is officially here and we had some glorious sunny days in July. It was amazing and me and Dane even got the BBQ out after work one of the days! I’m rather excited for this month and what it holds as I feel there will be plenty more BBQ days and pub garden evenings to be spent. 😛

July also brought along some blogger events in Birmingham, which I haven’t done/attended for YEARS! So I was really happy for that. I hope I am able to attend more Birmingham blog events in the future. This month I hope to be attending a couple of Coventry Blogger events too, so keep eyes peeled for that.

For now though, I’m back (even if it’s 2 days late!) to talk about my monthly favourites! 😀

SBC Honey & Almond Bath & Shower Creme.

This is something my mom recently gifted to me, as she’d bought it in a set and due to the size worried she may not get around to using it alongside her other SBC shower creme. This is amazing and I honestly love it so much right now! I use it daily and I’ve noticed a dramatic difference to my skin. It doesn’t feel or look dry and tight, but looks and feels softer. Not baby soft, but definitely softer. It smells amazing too! I honestly cannot get enough of it right now! It reminds me of times away in Fuerteventura as I often use honey scented shower gels and cremes whilst I’m there. This bottle will last me ages! I plan to try it as a bath creme next month when the cooler weather is upon us.

Cath Kidston Hand Cream.

I didn’t realise I had SO MANY of these little hand creams from my advent calendar from Christmas time. I found about three in one of my drawers recently and decided to take them all to work to use up. I actually forgot how amazing this hand cream is and when all of my hand creams are used up and gone, I plan to stick with Cath Kidston in the future. The hand creams are rich and a little bit of it goes a long way. The scent isn’t really my thing as it’s very “old lady” scented. I love my fruity and unique smells when it comes to perfume. However, I can live with it if it helps my eczema along the way, which I have recently noticed is rearing it’s dry, ugly head.

MUA Pro Base Soothe & Cool Primer Stick.

This has been so perfect during July due to the warm weather. I usually only apply this under my eyes as I tend to find if I apply it all over my face it has a tendency of making me feel oilier and that’s not something I wish to be! However, I did use it all over my face on lazy days off work to try and cool down my face a little. Alongside powder it works okay, but on its own it’s so much better for me. I do love this primer stick, but whether or not I’ll repurchase it, is another story.

I wrote a review about these primer drops towards the end of 2018 and you know what? I wasn’t very kind to these primer drops at all! If anything, I feel like I need to review these because I’ve changed my mind dramatically since then in so many different ways. I love these, they’re my go to these days whenever I wear a primer and whenever I go to buy a new one too. They just always do me good and never let me down. They leave my face feeling cooled, soft and plump looking, with a bit of shimmer to brighten the skin. I also use these on my lips to soften them too, as it works really well before product, even if it’s just a bit of lip balm. Would you guys like me to re review these in the future? Let me know in the comments!

Taya Copaiba Resin Volumising Shampoo.

This is something else my mom kindly gifted me recently and it’s such a gorgeous shampoo. My mom is honestly the best when it comes down to beauty and I always go to her for suggestions on new brands and products to try and use. She gave me this as she’d given it a go and wasn’t sure if it was for her. Well, it’s definitely for me! This really does leave my hair feeling and looking healthy, shiny and thicker! Not that my hair needs to be any thicker… 😛 It smells gorgeous too and has a lovely honey smell to it, which works perfectly alongside the SBC shower creme mentioned here too. A little of this goes a long way, which is great because my hair always craves ALL the shampoo when it comes to cleaning it!

So now my beauty favourites are done, time to talk about the miscellaneous favourites of the month!

Fuck me, Netflix brought out the big guns in July and they did bloody good too! Not one, but TWO new seasons of shows that made Netflix what it is today, sadly with one leaving us for good. Me and Dane both made sure to binge Stranger Things 3before any spoilers leaked out and ruined it for us. I honestly LOVED season 3 as I found it brought back the action of the whole gang that we missed out on in season 2. Season 2 was okay but it was meh at the same time. It focused too much on Eleven for my liking and this whole rebellion she seemed to go on. Season 3 definitely covered more of what was happening with the town and the shit that was about to hit (I totally rhymed on purpose)! I’m not saying too much due to spoilers, but it was amazing and I nearly cried at the end.

Orange Is the New Black is over. Like so over, that we need a new word for it (Sex & The City quote right there :P). I LOVED Orange Is the New Black so much and I’m glad it’s a season I invested time into because it’s been worth it. This season went too quickly and the end was shocking, so much so I don’t feel like the show has come to an end due to it. There’s no happy endings all around and there’s moments where you can’t believe it’s happened or happening for that matter. I can’t say much without spoiling. The one thing I will say is, Piper is her usual annoying as fuck self! I honestly hope the real Piper isn’t that annoying in real life… That’s the only good thing about the show coming to an end, no more annoying Piper. 😛 OH and who the hell calls their kid Piper?! Just me who thinks that, or?..

This film was amazing. Absolutely amazing. I was on the edge of my seat throughout and stayed well until the end to see what was happening next! If you didn’t stay until the end then shame on you! 😛 Without saying too much (because apparently this IS spoilers) I LOVED Jake Gyllenhaal as Mysterion. He was one of my favourite baddies back in the day as a kid of spending my every waking moment playing the original Spider-Man PlayStation game. The movie overall with Mysterion’s scenes were done so well and I also loved the story of Peter Parker wanting to be a normal teenager, but needing to be Spider-Man at the same time. It was great and I definitely enjoyed it more than the first film.

Although I picked up the Elfen Lied omnibus in June – I didn’t actually get around to reading it in July… Which I am really pissed off about. It’s my favourite manga of all time (to date) and I don’t seem to want to read it again… Yet. To be honest, I will probably just prioritise series I need to catch up on and then start on Elfen Lied. So, as I had an Amazon discount code recently, I decided to pick up some more volumes for Persona 4, two in total (volumes 2 and 3). I haven’t finished the game, but I am loving and enjoying reading the manga. I feel like the story of P5 and P4 are both completely different and due to that I enjoy them both so damn much. I really do need to finish playing the game though…

Favourite Music – Litany 4 Track EP.

This is an EP I adore and I wish it had more tracks due to that. This is the song that introduced me to the band, which you may recognise from the Extra gum advert from TV… Where the zombie girl and the guy kiss. Yes, that advert. This song is just so chill and perfect for those summer vibes, as is the rest of the album. I recommend you go and check out Litany if you fancy something new to listen to! I recommend “Bedroom” which I have linked about and “Work It Out”, which isn’t on the 4 track EP.

Completely random game for me to mention here this month but me and Dane recently had a little game date night in and we played this. It was actually really fun to play and we had a laugh during it, for a change! Monopoly can take forever (which this did) and be boring towards the end due to that reason. This was just fun. I find if you play Monopoly with the right people you can have an amazing time. Especially when it’s Pokemon themed too. 😛

So those are my favourites from July! I cannot believe how quickly the month flew by, it’s pretty crazy to be honest.

How was July for you guys? What were your favourites of the month, both beauty and in general. Make sure to let me know in the comments below.

Until next time all, take care and I hope you have a lovely weekend upon you all!

Back at the start of June this year I visited Manchester and I still can’t believe how many themed bars they have there. Fast forward a month later and one of the bars I looked into going to in Manchester is now here and I was so chuffed to have been invited to the press evening a few weeks ago the day before it officially opened!

I got to take a plus one with me to the press event so I decided to take my gorgeous friend Jacqui with me! The same beaut I took with me to the Cosy Club cocktail masterclass (which you can read about here).

This was a gifted event for promotional and reviewing purposes, so all views on this post are entirely my own.

We both met up after a long day at work and headed to the event. I was so damn excited as I didn’t quite know what to expect. I first noticed Flight Club in town funnily enough as I was on my way home from the Cosy Club event, so as we stood outside and waited to go in, I was taken back. I’d only ever been to one press event before and that was for MOD Pizza in Coventry back in March this year (which you can read about here).

When we got inside I was pretty blown about by the decor. Personally I wasn’t sure what to expect as I never ventured into the Manchester Flight Club, but this reminded me of a Victorian funfair or carnival and I really loved it! 😀 Everywhere I looked I was just reminded of the old fashioned funfair at the Black Country Museum.

I especially loved the porcelain dogs that were scattered around the venue! 😛

The bar is located on the left as you walk in and this was just as gorgeous as the rest of the decor. It definitely greets you as you walk in and it’s definitely a pleasant sight.

When we entered the venue we were greeted with lovely staff and a free glass of prosecco each. To be honest the amount of free alcohol at the event was crazy and I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much.

We were advised to head to the desk to book a booth, which I’m glad we did straight away as it wasn’t long before we were booked in and taken over to our darts booth.

When we arrived to our booth the one table had a MASSIVE bucket full of ice and various bottles of alcohol, mainly beer and cider. There was also a glass of white wine on the other table.

At one point during the evening the staff also came around with some cocktails, which both looked and tasted amazing! This is called Sweet Success – Ciroc French Vanilla vodka, Koko Kanu rum, passion fruit, pineapple, lemon and grenadine. The cocktails aren’t cheap at £9.95 each, I’m not going to lie! From what I can see they don’t do 2 for 1 offers or anything like that either… So price wise this is a definite deal break for me… No matter how yummy or pretty the drink is.

We were also brought some nibbles to our booth too, which were really yummy, but I didn’t feel like I got a big enough taste for what they have on the menu. This isn’t a bad thing however, as after viewing the menu I really want to go again for a date night with my boyfriend for food and drinks.

In our booth we shared it with a couple who were playing games with us for the hour slot we were given. We weren’t actually told how long we would be in the booth for and personally whilst that hour didn’t fly by, it also didn’t last as long as I thought it would either. I’ll go more into this later though.

For the time being I want to talk about what you do when you go to Flight Club!

Flight Club is a social darts bar, where you and a group of friends can play loads of different games on the board, as well as through an interactive board. It reminded me of bowling a little bit.

The booth itself was so well thought out and I really did feel comfortable there! There’s some hooks so you can hang up your jackets/coats and under the tables there are bag holders, which I LOVED! It made me feel a lot more secure.

You get a screen at the end of each table where you can pop in your name and even take a photo to add to your name, so everyone knows whose playing next.

There are 5 different games to choose from including my favourite which was Snakes and Ladders! All the games are different and you can either work in pairs or against one another. I’m not very good at darts and neither is my bestie, so we didn’t do amazingly well against our competitors. This didn’t matter though, we were having loads of fun the whole night! It’s just a shame it didn’t last as long as we had hoped.

The dartboards are all electronic, so they connect to the games to keep track of what points you’re getting on the board. There are also cameras on the dart board, so amazing shots film everyone in front of the board and reply reactions in slow motion! A very cool touch and one I didn’t notice at first as it was so subtle.

When our hour was over we were advised that we could hang around the bar and sign up for more darts, grab a drink and have some more nibbles. At this point me and my bestie were starving and we couldn’t live on nibbles alone, so we headed off into the sunny evening, went for a meal together and then headed home.

The one issue I have with Flight Club is the prices. I don’t feel you get what you pay for.

Flight Club don’t charge per person, they charge by the hour which can cost between £15 to £120! The prices are cheaper during OFF-PEAK times (Monday – Friday until 4pm and all day on Sunday) and can be as little as £15 for an hour for 2-5 people or £30 for two hours for 12-15 people.

This doesn’t seem TOO bad but I feel like for the £30 offer people wouldn’t get a fair go. The £15 for 2-5 people seems a much better deal. This is the sort of deal I’d go for on a Sunday with Dane.

I don’t know though, if you could be bothered and had some paper and a pen handy, you could make up these sorts of games in your local pub, without needing to pay to hire the board and the alcohol would probably be cheaper too.

Flight Club is gimmicky, but something Birmingham needs right now! This place will be perfect for date nights an evenings out with the girls for cocktails, but this won’t be a place I visit regular due to the prices.

Overall I REALLY love Flight Club and it’s definitely a fun place to go with family, friends and even potentially with people at work for events and team building. Go and check it out one of the evenings after work with your friends or other half and have a go for yourself! 😀

When I travel and visit new places there are always a couple of things in particular that I look out for when I’m there, good food and drink and AMAZING geeky shops to visit and spend all my cash at!

When Amy (Writing into the Ether) asked if she could take me around FarGo Village in Coventry on a little tour, I couldn’t say no really. Although my boyfriend is from Coventry and we often ventured into the town centre when he lived there, we never really went to FarGo Village. Why? I don’t actually know!

We’ve been since, but Amy took me around everywhere, which was so much fun!

In return I recently took Amy on a tour of my favourite places to visit in Birmingham, which she’s written about and posted today on her blog! I’ll link her post here so you can go and read where we went. Birmingham is amazing for geeky shopping, as well as amazing Asian food and drink, so much so we are planning another trip to tick off the places we didn’t manage to go.

FarGo Village is classed as Coventry’s creative quarter and from photos I actually thought it was bigger than it is. I feel like that due to the fact they’ve made so much use out of all the space, which is amazing. It reminds me of the Custard Factor in Digbeth Birmingham, which is somewhere I practically lived in as a student and in my early 20’s.

FarGo is an artistically re-purposed industrial space in Coventry City Centre, designed exclusively for creative, independent businesses and like-minded visitors. Located on Far Gosford Street, a recently regenerated area with a rich cultural heritage.

We are fiercely independent! We have an eclectic mix of over 40 independent businesses based here, including a craft brewery, artisan food, vegan shop, printing , a museum dedicated to Sgt Bilko and a Crossfit Box!

FarGo Village isn’t just a place to go shopping but is also great for food and drink! As of yet I haven’t actually eaten in FarGo Village, although I have eaten at places on Far Gosford Street. I’m sure in the future I will have something to eat at FarGo Village!

They so have SOME geeky things, including some Studio Ghibli art books which you can pick up from TAG! Artwork.

FarGo Village isn’t full of geeky places to shop, but it does have a lot of amazing independent shops to visit, with some already becoming must have shopping destinations for whenever I visit Coventry moving forward.

The first place we ventured to was Sgt Bilko’s Vintage Emporium which was pretty cool! It’s a vintage memorabilia shop with various different geeky bits and pieces, from Doctor Who, Star Wars, Marvel and more! They had loads of comic books in there where you could grab 10 for £10, which Amy took advantage of. I’m not a comic book girl myself and much prefer manga. This being said, the shop still had some amazing geeky pieces though, a definite must place to go if you’re into vintage geeky films and TV shows, I’m more of an otaku girl. 😛

We popped into Budda Boutique where I picked myself up some incense cones, which I have since used and have made my house smell gorgeous. This is the perfect place for hippies to visit, as it is a holistic shop that sells various different products ranging from clothing, healing crystals, jewellery and more! I loved collecting and using healing crystals growing up so whenever I venture into shops like this it really does bring back some nostalgia for me. This is a lovely store and one I will go back to time and time again when I visit FarGo Village.

We ventured onto the opposite side of FarGo Village to have a look at some of the stores I love the most in Fargo Village.

TAG! Artwork is definitely one that has caught my eye due to the cute and quirky books they sell! They do also sell art supplies too but I was in there for the manga! They sell quite a bit of manga to be fair, which is really nice. However, a lot of the manga they sell is also faded from the sunlight, which is a bit of a shame all around but mostly due to the fact they’re selling these for full price too. :S I’d want a discount considering they’re technically “damaged”. They also sell some quirky books and I regret not picking up the book Japanese Floaty Food Guide as I would love to have this for when I go to Japan. Next time I’m in FarGo Village I plan to pick it up!

Container No.8 is full of some right little gems and it’s a shop I would love to buy something from, but both times I’ve been (once with Amy and once with Dane) I’ve always wanted to be good. If I had of splurged a little, I think I would have ended up getting one of these cute little dinosaur necklaces by Bekbek Makes. Honestly, I always eye these cuties up whenever I go in but I just never buy one. 😦 I really love the green triceratops pin badge that I saw, but again. I left him behind. 😦 Bekbek Makes does have an online shop, which I have linked back to under the sellers name here. 🙂

Container No.8 was a bit of a mix match of local sellers produce and items, which I really like! It means there is one shop with all sorts of different goods. These cute little honey bar bottles were too cute to not snap a photo of.

I’m not a vegan, hell I’m not even a vegetarian but The Green Unicorn Vegan Store is an interesting little store and I actually picked something up from there during our shopping trip. This gorgeous little store is promoting not only vegan produce but also for people to cut down and stop using plastic, which is something I would like to stop doing and I’m trying to do. The Green Unicorn Store is perfect because you can bring in your own jars, bottles and more to fill up with goods and take away. I ended up buying some cloth bags which I now use when I’m out shopping and want to buy fruit. I feel good not using plastic one use bags. 🙂

The last shop we ventured into before we decided to get a drink was, and I LOVED it so much! Fantayzia Designs is a retro style store that creates things out of stuff people bring in, as well as sell some of those items too. For example the owner has created lamps out of old cassette tapes, which looked really cool! I’m gutted I didn’t take a photo of them to be honest.

I love how the entrance to the shop has some chairs and vintage games on old TV’s. Anything like this attracts me straight away and when we went inside I made sure to have a look at what vintage games, consoles and more that they had on offer. I’m a console collector so I’m always into finding gems like this. Due to this however, it did break my heart a little to see this Game Boy Pocket turned into a clock… 😛 That being said, it was pretty cool all the same. ^_^

When we were shopped out we decided to head to my favourite place in FarGo Village, Bubble Boba for some must needed drinks and natter. I ordered the Red Velvet cheesecake, which was AMAZING! Definitely my favourite drink from there now. I visited Bubble Boba for Mockail Party and Masterclass recently, which was organised by Bubble Boba and Amy, which you can read about here.

I really love The Big Comfy Bookshop and this was my first time visiting. I haven’t ventured into FarGo Village since me and Amy did so I haven’t been back, but honestly that place is perfect for anyone who just wants a bit of piece and quiet to write on their own, or with friends. I wish there was somewhere like this near my home so I could venture there after work to grab a coffee and do some blog writing.

The thing I love the most about The Big Comfy Bookshop is how all the books they sell second hand books and let you sit to read them too. I found a gem from my teenage years and it made me so nostalgic! I still own the novel Guitar Girl which I still love and read occasionally (maybe I’ll write a story post about this book in the future?). I also found some amazing cookbooks for sale! They also have a selection of manga on the shelves, which they need more of. 😛

We stayed for a drink, a bit of cake and some more natter before we parted ways. It was a lovely day and I really enjoyed the little tour Amy gave me of FarGo Village. I really want to go again when they have an event on. They had a car related event on this day which to be honest annoyed me. People were revving their cars occasionally which just ruined the relaxed mood for me. I can’t moan about that too much however, as I know this doesn’t always happen in FarGo Village.

We didn’t managed to pop into some shops, as I have a feeling due to it being Sunday, they were shut. I think this is such a shame as it means if people work in retail and get Sunday’s off, they miss out on all the gems in FarGo Village.

Some of the places I’m sad we missed out on are:

Olivia Thomas Handmade – I don’t recall if we saw this or not, or if we did and it wasn’t open but the handmade pieces by Olivia Thomas look and sound gorgeous and I’d definitely love to go in the future to pick some pieces up for myself, as well as for friends and family as gifts.

Oshin Art & Craft – This place reminds me of Japan and I don’t know why. It just looks so crafty and kawaii inside, but I feel like when I went in before it just wasn’t for me. I’d love to go again to see what it’s all about!

The Drawing Room – A tattoo shop where (obvs) you can get tattooes done! I know a few people who have a few pieces done here, especially by Kerste Diston (kerste_tattoos on Instagram). Her pieces are gorgeous and she recently posted a photo of design she drew of Haku from Spirited Away.

Overall I loved the little tour Amy took me on of FarGo Village! I don’t think I could have asked for anyone better to take me around. Amy is so passionate about FarGo Village and it shows constantly. I can understand why she loves it so much, it’s such a quaint little place full of unique shops and little treasures. I really want to venture to FarGo Village more in the future, especially when there are events being held there.

Oh by the way, look at how famous Amy is in The Big Comfy Bookshop! 😛

If you’re ever in Coventry will you be popping into FarGo Village? Do you have anything like FarGo Village where you live? If you do, please let me know about it! 😀

Until next time, take care all and I hope you’re having a lovely morning so far.

If there is one thing I love doing after a day of work and over the weekend, it’s to have a nice cold drink and I don’t mean just your average glass of coke.

I love cocktails and always have since I was a student! I love learning how to make them and I especially love drinking them. I remember in my third year of university discovering Tipsy Bartender on YouTube and spending days and evenings watching all of his videos for tips and ideas on how to make cocktails. I loved it and I learnt so much from it.

Fast forward almost ten years later and I still make cocktails for myself and Dane and friends when they come over. My specialities are pina colada and amaretto sours. These are my two favourite cocktails to make, as well as drink.

As readers may remember, I attended the Cosy Club at Christmas time last year to review their Christmas menu and I loved it so much! Not only did I discover another one of my favourite cocktails but it was also an amazing event and the staff made me and Dane (who was my plus one) feel very much loved. 🙂

Fast forward almost ten months later and I was invited to the Cosy Club again to attend a cocktail making masterclass at their Birmingham store. Let me tell you, it was the perfect event for a hot day after work. I even got to take a plus one, so I took one of my best friends with me (hey Jacqui!).

This was a gifted item for promotional and reviewing purposes, so all views on this post are entirely my own.

I arrived at the event a little bit early and pooped from a lot of walking so I decided to have a sit down as I waited. The staff were all so friendly and made me a complimentary drink whilst I waited for the event to start. It was nice to just sit for a few minutes and sip on my drink of choice.

I mentioned it earlier, my favourite drink from the Cosy Club – Cherry Bakewell. I love that this comes in pitchers to be honest! I would drink the whole thing happily on my own and behave like a rabid animal if anyone went near it… 😛 It’s a sweet drink and tastes just like cherry bakewell cake. It contains amaretto, which is my favourite spirit, so how could I NOT love this cocktail?

When the event was due to start we all went upstairs to the Board Room, which is used for private events, such as the cocktail making masterclass which we were attending.

There wasn’t a huge group of us, eight in total which was really nice. It meant we all managed to have a go at making cocktails which is always good.

On arrival to the Board Room/the event we were greeted with an Aperol Spritz, which is one of the Cosy Club’s sparkling cocktails.

Aperol Spritz £7.75The civilised aperitif, loved by the Italians, embraced by the British. Aperol and orange bitters topped with fizz and a dash of soda. A delightful livener to start proceedings.

The Aperol Spritz was refreshing and a drink you could serve to people at a BBQ or during a garden party, it’s especially perfect for older ladies. I’d be lying if I said I loved this one… It really wasn’t my cup of tea due to the fact it contains soda. I can’t stand soda. It was good though nonetheless. The flavours all worked together really well to create this drink. My best friend loved this and I have a feeling she’s been craving them since… 😛

We all mingled and had chatter amongst ourselves and when the time was right we were given the agenda for the evening. We would be creating two cocktails each ourselves, EXCITING!

We were going to be having a go at making the Rhubarb & Elderflower Spritz, which is another one of the sparkling cocktails and Blow a Raspberry at Collin, which is a long cocktail.

Photo taken by my plus one Jacqui

As we sat down and slowly finished our Aperol Spritz drinks, we were brought out some mojito shots. These were amazing, but I think we were all a bit shocked by the salt that lined the rim of the glass… A slugs worst nightmare! 😛

The first drink we were creating was the Rhubabrd & Elderflower Spritz!

Photo taken by my plus one Jacqui

Rhubarb & Elderflower Spritz £7.95A shimmery goddess of a drink with Warner’s rhubarb gin, elderflower, fizz and a touch of sparkle.Created by Sally Latham from Cosy Club Cheltenham

I already want to put this out there that not all of the images of this drink do it justice for just how GORGEOUS it is! It has edible shimmer in so it’s like the stuff that unicorns are made of. 😛

Both myself and my best friend had a go at making these, which was so much fun! But before we were able to get our grubby mitts on the cocktail shaker, we were all given a demo of how the cocktail is made, just so we were ready for when it was our turn to step behind the bar.

For the majority of the photos of the Rhubabrd & Elderflower Spritz being created are of my best friend Jacqui! 😀

First the Warner’s rhubarb gin

Photo taken by my plus one Jacqui

Then the elderflower cordial

Some lemon juice

Some raspberry puree

Finally the last thing before the drink is shaken! The edible golden shimmer! You only needed a tiny amount to create such a gorgeous drink.

Photo taken by my plus one Jacqui

Photo taken by my plus one Jacqui

Then it was time to SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE!

Photo taken by my plus one Jacqui

Photo taken by my plus one Jacqui

After shaking you can poor the drink into the glass, before adding the final stage of this drink – the prosecco.

When we finished making our drinks we were allowed to go off and enjoy them to our hearts content!

Photo taken by my plus one Jacqui

Photo taken by my plus one Jacqui

In all honestly I was surprised by how much I really liked this cocktail. I’m not the biggest fan of gin and if anything I find it to taste so wrong… Like it shouldn’t be drinkable. However, the rhubarb in the gin made it really sweet alongside the elderflower, lemon and raspberry and if anything it complimented the taste of gin so well! Not mention the unicorn sparkles throughout the drink, that EVERYONE was going mad over. 😛

I sadly didn’t manage to get any photos of it, but at one point during the evening we were made the Cosy Club’s Cosy Colada. It was vegan friendly as they use coconut cream instead. It was so damn good and I really enjoyed it! I didn’t know the Cosy Club served pina coladas so I know what I’ll be sipping when I go next! 😛

Cosy Colada £8.50If you like Cosy Coladas… Avoid the rain with a Cosy umbrella and a spiced pineapple oomph for our take on this coconutty classic.

After having a go at making our own cocktails it was time to have a sit down, enjoy our drinks and have something to eat. I want to be honest and pop this here… I popped to the loo quick as from consuming all the alcohol, I NEEDED to go! When I came back most of the food had gone and people were going up for seconds. I hadn’t even sniffed the buffet and there was hardly anything left for me. I wonder if I’d have been in the toilet longer, would I have had anything to eat? It sucked to be honest and was very inconsiderate on the other bloggers to take so much food when they could see I wasn’t there…

Either way I managed to grab a little something to eat and the food was so good! I remember trying the Camembert at the Christmas event last year and not feeling it… This time however I LOVED it and was sad there wasn’t more. I think my reason for not enjoying it last time was due to it being served with sourdough bread, which I’m not the biggest fan of anyway.

Photo taken by my plus one Jacqui

After food it was time to get back to cocktail making! I was first up with my best friend, so sadly we didn’t get any photos of us making our cocktails. We made the Blow a Raspberry at Collin cocktail, another one with gin.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to enjoy the Blow a Raspberry at Collin as again, I’m not a fan of gin at all! I wasn’t super over the moon with it, but it was drinkable and to be honest it was nice to try something different. I just think it didn’t help that it contained gin and soda water… Two things I’m not a huge fan of in the alcohol world. This is a drink I know my mom would enjoy and due to it being a long drink, it’s perfect to have if you want to have a mom and daughter night out for cocktails at the Cosy Club!

Overall the event was amazing! I had so much fun during it and it was especially fun to have my bestie Jacqui with me to create and taste cocktails with. The two members of staff who looked after us were lovely throughout and catered to so much more than they needed to! For example when I was taken to the room the event was held in, my Cherry Bakewell cocktail was carried up for me. They didn’t need to do that, but those little details are so lovely and perfect. I felt special, let’s put it that way! xD

The Cosy Club have some offers in relation to both cocktails as well as the cocktail masterclass that we attended.

First of all from Sunday to Thursday, 4pm-8pm it’s the Cosy Club’s Teatime Tipple so cocktails are any two for £9.95! Such a bargain and me and my best friend already intend to take advantage of this offer.

As I mentioned the Cosy Club do hold Cocktail Master Classes for their customers which have different packages you can choose from (taken from the website):

1. Cocktails – £29.95 per person• Exclusive use of our private room either between 12-5pm or 6pm- late• An ice-breaker shot to get your shake on• 3 cocktails of your choice that our bartender will teach your party how to make• The chance to get behind the bar and create our wonderful cocktails on your own• Enjoying the fruits of your labour by sipping on those beautiful cocktails you’ve made

2. Cocktails and Tapas – £39.95 per person• Everything included in package one above• A selection of tapas for your party served in our private room

3. Cocktails and Dinner – £44.50 per person• Everything included in package one above• A 2 course meal from our party menu, served in our private room

4. The Whole Shebang – £47.95 per person• Everything included in package one above• A 3 course meal from our party menu, served in our private room

*Subject to availability. Minimum 6 people, maximum 20 people. The cocktail master class is roughly a 2 – 3 hour session excluding any food. Terms and conditions apply. Not in conjunction with any other offer. Please note that when booking for more then 15 people, a third cocktail is served on arrival instead of being made by the guests.

I would definitely love to go and do something like this with a group of friends over Christmas, as well as for my birthday and more! It was so much fun to do, so I know with more people it would be amazing.

Before I wrap up this post and sign off, I just wanted to address a few things from the event that have bugged me. It’s honesty hour time!

If there was one thing I didn’t like about this event it was just how inconsiderate some of the bloggers were who attended… Not all, but some. People seemed to forget it wasn’t just them taking photos of the cocktails being made and due to that hogged the drinks. It was frustrating and again, inconsiderate. I also found it rude that some people talked about their blogs and what they were about, but didn’t even ask me about mine. It was a bit shitty but meh. Then at the end of the night some people attending the event didn’t say goodbye to me and my plus one, but did to everyone else, which sucked.

I wanted to address this and be honest because that’s what I am on my blog. I will never bullshit my readers with fluff and fakery. It something isn’t right I address it and some of the bloggers at this event were downright impolite, whether it was intentional or not.

This is no way shape or form reflects on the Cosy Club. As always their event was fabulous and well organised. The two gorgeous staff members who looked after us during the event was so approachable, talkative and gave a lovely warm welcome. Cosy Club are always so generous when it comes down to their events and I still cannot believe they gifted me the Cherry Bakewell even before the event had begun. It was so thoughtful and was very much appreciated after a long day at work and an even longer walk to get the train to town.

Negatives aside, I really did love this event and if anything it has given me so many ideas for cocktails I would love to make for garden parties this year, as well as games evenings with friends!

A massive thank you to the Cosy Club for inviting me to another one of their events! I always have an amazing time there both as a blogger at events as well as a customer with friends and loved ones. 🙂

Do you love cocktails? If so, which is your favourite? Also do you love the Cosy Club too? 😀 Make sure to let me know in the comments!

Until next time all take care and I hope you’re having a lovely weekend so far.

If there is one weakness I have, besides Nendoroid figures and salmon nigiri, it’s stationary. I love a good notebook and/or journal and I’m always a sucker if I see a really good one in store or online. I’ve had to simmer down with buying them lately after having a HUGE clear out at home and discovered 20 unused notebooks in our office… Oops! 😛

Although I don’t need another notebook/journal in my life, I had recently started to think, “Should I get one for my trip to Japan?” because then instead of keeping anything I need to know on my phone, or on an email online somewhere, a notebook would be handy. It would mean I can carry it around with me, take it to Japan, make notes in as and when, etc.

I know a lot of people like to use their phones and online devices for planning now, but I’m still happy to use pen and paper. I feel I get more done and jotted down if I use a notebook. I don’t end up getting sidetracked by Instagram and games (especially Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp).

Recently Mal Paper contacted me asking if I would like to be gifted one of their Daily Goal Setter‘s to review on my blog. This opportunity couldn’t have come at a better time in the run up to my Japan holiday and I as soon as the daily goal setter arrived, I knew it would be perfect for this, as well as other things!

This was a gifted item for promotional and reviewing purposes, so all views on this post are entirely my own.

First of all I want to talk a little bit about Mal Paper (bio about Mal Paper taken from the Our Story section of their website).

The word Mål, pronounced ‘mo-l’, means goal in Swedish.

We also take inspiration from the Scandinavian clean and clutter-free way of living. As a result, Mål Paper designs and produces stylish, simplistic and effective stationery that helps us to be more productive by focusing our minds on the most important tasks.

Our range of products is the result of seeking a solution to solve the common problem of jumping from one task to the next, without prioritising them or even completing the previous task. We were tired of having countless ‘to-do’ lists on notepads, notebooks and journals that did nothing more than complicate our goals and tasks further, to the point of feeling overwhelmed and uninspired to hold ourselves accountable.

Our mission is simple. Focus on creating products that give the user clarity on what they want to achieve with a clear path on how to get there, all while promoting a positive mindset to carry over on to their daily activities.

Earlier this year Mal Paper decided to start a Kickstarter campaign for the daily goal setter, which did really well! It would seem after the campaign ended and people had been sent and received their daily goal setters, that Mal Paper opened their online store.

Let’s talk about the daily goal setter, I honestly cannot wait any longer to show you this gorgeous bit of stationary.

This is a sturdy hardback journal that comes in three different colours, black, grey and pink. As you see, I opted for the latter colour. I’m a girl, how could I say no to pink? 😛

The first thing I noticed with this journal is how soft the PU faux leather is that makes the journal – it definitely makes it comfortable to hold and feels very fancy! It’s good size too for an A5 journal and contains 244 pages – which is 6 months worth of planning right there!

The pink colour is gorgeous and goes with my laptop really nicely, with the text on the outside being in gold. The spine even has Daily Goal Setter and Mal Paper on so this can be popped into a book shelf if you wanted to which I really love.

A few other things the journal includes are 2 divider ribbons and a document folder at the back of the book. I love when notebooks come with document folders as it’s a place I usually keep things that aren’t super important but good to have with a specific notebook to reference. For example if I have a flyer or leaflet from a blog event that I need to refer to, notebooks are the best place to keep these! The 2 divider ribbons will come in handy too, especially as they’re both different colours too. I like how they’re grey! It compliments the pink so well.

Enough of the outside of the journal, lets get into it!

The journal has a contents page – which I’ve never seen before but for some reason it reminds me of a bullet journal.

As you flick through the pages you begin to understand why that contents page is necessary at the start! Mal Paper have made sure to pack loads of good information in here to get people started with their daily goal setting, which is handy. Personally I wouldn’t have a clue where to start.

They go through how you can set goals and how to set effective goals at that. I like how it goes into detail to be honest with you, I mean it’s okay to wing it but sometimes people need a bit of guidance with these things, I know I do!

You can tell a lot of thought and love went into the daily goal setter when it was being made and I really love seeing this through the guidance. I’ll definitely be taking all of the tips through the journal for goal setting with me to work to be honest as these will come in handy whenever I have projects coming up and how I want to plan for them. I feel like everyone needs a goal setter like this on their desk because it’s perfect for people who have busy jobs which involve thinking about loads of different things.

AND if you thought the written guide(s) weren’t enough, they even throw in an example of how your weekly and daily reviews should look. Could it get any better? Well…

You get your lists of long-term goals to create (which I am so excited to get written down!), as well as medium-term and short-term goals.

There are some monthly calendar templates in there you can play with for any particular months you want to plan around, for example if you’re having a busy blogging month due to events and gifted items that you’ll review as a blogger, this would be ideal to keep on top of all of those.

Personally for my holiday this will be perfect to plan what me and Dane would like to do whilst we’re in Japan.

Something I rather like about the daily goal setter is how they have inspirational quotes throughout, whether it be a page or on the bottom of the certain pages.

Before you get to the majority of the journal which is the daily tasks, you come to the weekly tasks – which will be really handy for if I’m having a busy blog week and need to keep on top of things to do with that, as well as for the 2 weeks me and Dane will be in Japan. This would especially help with planning to go do things and plan around whereabouts in Japan we’ll be with where we could go shopping and go to eat.

The majority of the daily goal setter is daily tasks, which I really like as it means I have more room to think things I want to jot down and fulfil over the day.

There are blank notes pages at the back of the book, as well as a 2019 and 2020 calendar so this would definitely be ideal if you’re a student planning to study in September this year – or even in s secondary school student preparing for your GCSE’s.

Mal Paper also have a guide on the website for how to use the daily goal setter – which is really handy for people looking into buying one for themselves and what to expect.

The daily goal setter will be perfect for so many people but personally I feel like this will be great for people who work in an office environment and have lots of different tasks and objectives to keep on top of over the course of a day, week and/or over various months. Due to this, this would also be perfect for a student too, whether they’re in secondary school, college or university.

The daily goal setter of course is perfect for bloggers like myself, especially those of us who do this for a living and need to keep on top of blog posts, social media, blog events and more!

Personally I really do want to us this for the months leading up to my Japan holiday as I can write so many ideas of places me and Dane plan to go, where we want to shop, eat and more. Even stuff about the trip there and home.

Alongside that I would also love to use it for blog related matters, so I can write down weekly reviews and tasks I set myself for posts I want to try and get written and scheduled, as well as social media posts I would like to plan to go up on places such as Instagram and Twitter.

If you think that the daily goal setter might be for you, but you aren’t sure – Mal Paper actually offer a free download of the daily goal setter and it’s really easy to do. All you have to do is follow this link and subscribe to their newsletter. Simple! You’ll receive a PDF in your inbox and you can try before you buy.

The Daily Goal Setter costs £20.95, which isn’t the cheapest journal in the world, but personally I feel this is well worth the money as it’s of a high quality and you feel like you’re getting what you’ve paid for with that. All of the cheap notebooks from Poundland will never make up for something as high quality as this. Plus Mal Paper are a UK company and I especially love to support companies created in my country. 🙂

Overall I absolutely adore Mal Paper’s Daily Goal Setter and I honestly cannot wait to spend a relaxed evening sat down with it, writing down my goals for the rest of the year, as well as my ideas and plans for both my blog, as well as my holiday to Japan!

What do you think of the Daily Goal Setter? If so which colour would you opt for and what would you use it for? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below!

Until next time, take care all and I hope you’re having a lovely weekend so far.

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Hi I'm Natalee a level 29 Brummy with a passion for anything kawaii, Japanese and especially food. I'm a lifestyle blogger with lots of geek and otaku thrown in for good measure. Occasionally fashion and beauty can be found lurking, but not as much as it used to be.
Here are a few of my favourite things - Pokemon, Persona 5, Animal Crossing, South Park reading manga, watching anime, playing both board and video games and more!

Contact Me!

If you would like to get hold of me for anything at all, whether that be to talk about fashion, beauty, music, films or if you're a company and would like to get in touch, please feel free to e-mail me:

theremightbecoffeeblog@gmail.com

Items with * next to them have been sent or gifted for reviewing purposes.